Refugees using fake passports are not a problem in Bermuda, a Government minister said yesterday.

Immigration Minister Maxwell Burgess said more than 600,000 tourists and locals travel through Bermuda's borders each year.

"Just because we have had a problem or two,'' he said, "the facts don't bear out that we are not vigilant.'' He added: "Let the public be the judge. We get good intelligence from sources overseas and we act and have acted.'' He was speaking after it was decided to return illegal immigrant to Bermuda Gopinath Chandresagaram to his Sri Lankan Tamil minority parents, who live as refugees in Switzerland. Chandresagaram, 18, tried to get into Canada via Bermuda and the US using a false Canadian passport and forged air ticket and immigration visa.

He told Magistrates' Court after being caught that he faced death if returned to his homeland.

Mr. Burgess said the Department of Immigration had ensured Chandresagaram was prosecuted and had helped get him returned to his parents.

Mr. Burgess also said he was not aware that Bermuda is being used as a way-station for illegal immigrants trying to enter Canada.

He added that although he was certain Bermuda could be seen as an entry point to North America he added: "We will keep a watchful eye.'' And according to Chandresagaram's lawyer Clare Hatcher, the Sri Lankan teenager is happy at the prospect of being reunited with his parents.

"He would also like to thank everybody in Bermuda who has helped him,'' she added.

Ms Hatcher said her client had declined to be interviewed by The Royal Gazette .

A past chairperson for Amnesty International Bermuda, Ms Hatcher said the case highlighted that Bermuda is not signatory to international conventions on refugees.

She said: "The UK has ratified the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to Refugees and its 1967 protocol. But it has not been extended to Bermuda.''